Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter with 1 year old

We are so excited for our first Disney cruise next month to celebrate MIL's 60th birthday! We are a party of 6 adults and 3 kids, one of which is a 16 month old. The whole family is booked for the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter through DCL, but apparently the 16 month old and an adult have to go as observers. This is despite the fact that if you book directly through Dolphin Encounters (operates Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounters), kids 1-3 are actually free and allowed to participate. Unfortunately Disney has an exclusivity arrangement with Dolphin Encounters. Although we could make our lives a little more complicated by "secretly" booking direct, I actually don't mind paying a bit extra to have the piece of mind of not worrying about transportation but I am really frustrated that we wouldn't be able to do the encounter as a family with my 16 month old son. I have read in other threads that once you arrive at Dolphin Encounters you can actually upgrade to the swim if there is space available, so I was wondering if once we are there would it actually matter if we booked through Disney or directly as far as my 16 month old's participation? Has anyone had any experience with this? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

We are not ignoring your post (at this point, you have 228 reads). It is just that no one seems to have a definitive answer for you.

Thank you moki'smommy! No worries, I understand. Might be one of those things that we will just have to figure out when we get there.

I'd be willing to bet that they will allow an almost 2 year old to participate with the adult "babysitter"...